Many in the media believe the new film 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi points the finger at Hillary Clinton and the State Department for the Sept. 11, 2012 attack that resulted in the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

To the extent the film highlights the lack of security available for the ambassador and his requests for additional security, the observation is true. As depicted in 13 Hours, Washington, D.C. also had a real-time video feed of the attacks, thanks to a drone flying overhead.

Mark “Oz” Geist, one of the elite soldiers engaged in the defending Americans during the attacks, was asked directly by ABC News’ Nightline if he holds Hillary Clinton accountable for the deaths of the four Americans.

Related Stories

“Do I hold her accountable? No,” Geist answered. “You know who I hold accountable is [Ansar] al-Sharia. That’s who attacked them. That’s who killed the ambassador.”

While many may be sympathetic to the former secretary of state’s claims regarding the “fog of war” as to hers and the State Department’s reactions as the attacks unfolded, there appears to be little ground to stand on concerning how the attacks were portrayed to the American people afterwards.

As reported by Western Journalism, the day after the attack, Clinton emailed the Egyptian prime minister telling him, “We know the attack in Libya had nothing to do with the film. It was a planned attack — not a protest.” The very night of the attack, she wrote her daughter Chelsea that an al-Qaeda like group carried it out.

Advertisement - story continues below

Fox News’ Sean Hannity asked Geist what his reaction was to Clinton’s explanation about the attacks being caused by an online video.

“I’m baffled,” the former Marine replied.

“Could you vote for her, based on, you know, she lied?” Hannity followed up.

“Well I think if you’re going to vote for anybody, first thing you should vote for them on is based on their ethics, their honor and their courage,” Geist responded.

Trending Stories

The veteran nearly had the lower portion of his arm blown off during mortar assaults on the CIA Annex. Geist has undergone 13 surgeries, so far, to regain most of the use of his arm and hand.

Hannity put the question of whether Clinton lied when she blamed the video for the attacks to former Army Ranger Kris “Tonto” Paronto, who fought alongside Geist in Benghazi.

“We’re getting out there, and we’re telling the truth of what took place that night,” Paronto said in an effort to keep politics out of the discussion.

Paronto pointed out the Benghazi victims’ family members, like Pat Smith, Charles Woods and Katie Quigley, have appeared on television discussing what Clinton told them about a video prompting a spontaneous attack. “Why would they lie? What reason would they have not to tell the truth?,” Paronto said of the families.

13 Hours was released in theaters nationwide Friday; its box office total for opening weekend came in very close to industry expectations of $20 million. Viewers gave it an “A” CinemaScore rating.